Advice for an Old bench

[Niels Cosman]

Against my better judgement I bought a fairly old, very rough old bench this weekend and now I am trying to figure out what to do with it.

Background:
It's an old Hammacher Schlemmer european style bench. Solid maple with a top just shy of 3" inches thick. The Seller claims that it's from 1920-30's bought by his father, which seems correct. The pictures of on craigslist looked promising enough to justify driving taking a two hour drive to check it out. Long story short, I found the bench having been stored in a dark damp basement for many years in less than pristine condition. I got out my flashlight and gave the bench a thorough inspection. There were splits in the boards in the top and the large wood screw vises were mostly seized up. Both problems symptomatic of the humidity and temperature. The wood looked good no rotting (but lots of mildew), the dogs looked ok, and the vise screws looked fine.

While every rational bone in my body was screaming dont do it- my old-junk-loving-heart pried opened my wallet and forked over a sizable chunk of change to rescue the old gal.

So what to do now...
I reckon i've got two options:
1. Rehab the lady and try to put her back to work (preferable).
2. Clean it, flip it to some city folk (manhattanites) as rustic decoration and run with the money

Right now:
Yesterday I gave her a bath- with first with some mildly soap and water then with some mineral sprits and a pad to clean off the majority of the surface grim and any mold/mildew that i could find. After three days of dryness both vises are screwing (the face vise is very smooth) the tail is getting better. The more with lots of the dirt gone and in the light of day, i am discovering cracks everywhere, but nothing that seems life threatening yet. The most troubling cracks are in the tail vise -particularly in the screw at the end with the handle.

I would love to hear what you fine folks think of the situation and offer any opinions you might offer about how I should proceed.

Regardless of how I choose to proceed, I think I shouldn't touch it for a week or two and see how things start settling out. I wouln't want to flatten the surface before it stopped moving or remove more of that "valuable dirt" if it turns out to be past the point of repair.

Cheers,
Niels

[Niels Cosman]

...one more of the face vise

[Prashun Patel]

I feel your love! That's a beauty. Personally, I'd only 'rehab' where it needs it.

About the only serious cleaning it looks like u might need is in the screws. If it were me, I'd remove the screws and soak them in a mild detergent like Simple Green and scrub them with a plastic bristle brush.

I wouldn't use anything that's acidic on any metal parts. What I've found out is that mild acids like citric or even vinegar look great at first, but can cause tiny pits which compromise stuff like plane blades long term (DAMHIKT).

[David Gendron]

I think it look salvageble and I would defenitly give it a try on the restoration! but like you said, let it settle down for a wile!
Good luck!

[David Keller NC]

Unfortunately, the tool collecting world doesn't put a very high price on antique benches unless they're either a) by a famous maker like E. W. Carpenter or b) in absolutely pristine condition.

However, you're right that some folks consider such old benches to be "rustications" for their interior decor. Generally, you can expect to get from $300 to $600 for one, with an antiques dealer (not antiques tool dealer) putting a price of somewhere between $600 - $900 on one.

I would guess that will some proper weighting down of the undercarriage, you've a bench that will serve you quite well for furniture building, particularly if you don't already have one. Though I'd also say that one of the recently built Roubos or Holtzfappel clones seen on this site and others would be considerably better.

But those take time and money to build, so particularly if you like a portion of your tool set to be antiques, this looks perfectly usable. If you decide to sell it to an antiques dealer though, it goes without saying that flattening the top (which removes the "old" look) will radically decrease its value.

[Niels Cosman]

thanks for your responses!
Im definitely going to try to make this bench work again with the least invasive rehab as possible!

more cleaning and a little bit of citrus stripper on the table top has revealed quite a bit:

1. there is probably a pint of paint/debris on the surface
2. there may be some light charring (as in fire damage?) on the left end.
3. the vise garters appear to be copper!

When I talk reselling, i am definitely talking about the pottery barn/ restoration hardware folks that just want something wooden and old looking. I have recently seen some really sorry looking examples going for big bucks (~$2000-ridiculous I know).
David- hear you about the roubo/holzfappel's. They are far superior designs in my opinion. In the future (time permitting) that's what i'll build for myself. For now i'll use this and possibly build some drawers or cabinets that sit in the base to add some weight/storage and i'll build a little bench slave for the planing edges of longer boards.

[harry strasil]

if you do decide to keep and use it, I would, rockler has some blue handled scrapers with reversable carbide blade inserts that would do a good job of removing the paint and debris from the top.

[Jim Koepke]

2. there may be some light charring (as in fire damage?) on the left end.

Maybe it was caused by his planes getting hot

When I talk reselling, i am definitely talking about the pottery barn/ restoration hardware folks that just want something wooden and old looking. I have recently seen some really sorry looking examples going for big bucks (~$2000-ridiculous I know).

For $2000, I could make one and make it look old.

Are there people who actually have too much money and are willing to part with it to have an old bench in their living room?

jim

[Caspar Hauser]

Are there people who actually have too much money and are willing to part with it to have an old bench in their living room?

jim

Oh yes. I've seen them in living rooms, hallways and kitchens.

[Michael Peet]

Maybe it was caused by his planes getting hot

jim

Hey, my old workbench!

[Niels Cosman]

Maybe it was caused by his planes getting hot

GREAT SOLES OF FIRE!
it looks there is the "shadow of something that was sitting on the bench when either the top caught a flame and/or somebody was spraying something that soaked in to the top pours of the wood.

For $2000, I could make one and make it look old.
Are there people who actually have too much money and are willing to part with it to have an old bench in their living room?

i'd bet on it - and fortunately for them I am willing to help unburden them of all that extra dough.

[Niels Cosman]

What you all think about adding holes in the top for holdfasts?

[Jeff Skory]

What you all think about adding holes in the top for holdfasts?

If you do, don't put any BLO in the holes. Don't ask me how I know...

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=119395

[harry strasil]

my bench is only 60 by 27, but it has 39 dog holes in the top and 36 in the apron. LOL, but then it has 2 face vises one on each side, a pattern makers vise, a wagon vise, 2 bench vises, a leg vise, and a crochet.

[Jeff Skory]

my bench is only 60 by 27, but it has 39 dog holes in the top and 36 in the apron. LOL, but then it has 2 face vises one on each side, a pattern makers vise, a wagon vise, 2 bench vises, a leg vise, and a crochet.

Sounds more like a porcupine!